In 2020, the Walmart Foundation awarded grants to 11 community-based projects offering innovative approaches to supporting healthy food access. The grants focused on initiatives that improve access to fresh foods for regions and populations experiencing disproportionately high rates of food insecurity. Feeding South Florida, one of the 11 grantees, focused on improving regular access to nutritious foods by creating an e-pantry that serves Black and Latinx populations in Florida.

Key features of the initiative included allowing clients choose their food items instead of receiving a prepackaged food box, offering their e-pantry application in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole, and continued strategic testing to maximize the e-pantry’s reach to Black and Latinx communities. We found that e-pantries, an online food-ordering system, serve as a potential avenue to provide an accessible and convenient option for people to choose their food items and have their order either delivered to their doorsteps or at a designated pick-up location.